Notorious Beam Team

Yellow arrows are taking over the coolest streets of New York, placed there by people with a story to tell. It's like "geographical blogging". Innocuous streets which seem really boring are brought to life by obscure stories and offbeat tales that get closer to the soul of the city than a Lonely Planet guide ever will. Markers are just beginning to wake up to the possibilities this offers.


The guys who developed the idea have got the following to say about it:

Yellow Arrow™ is a global public art project, urban game, and tool for collaborative experimental travel - an interactive forum for people to leave and discover messages pointing out what counts.

Participants place arrows to draw attention to different locations and objects-- a favorite view of the city, an odd fire hydrant, the local bar. By sending a text-message (SMS) from your mobile phone to 1.646.270.5537 beginning with your arrow's unique code you associate it with a short text -- messages can range from literary quotations to personal commentaries to game-like prompts to action. When another person encounters the arrow, he or she sends the code to 1.646.270.5537 and immediately receives your message on their mobile phone.

Through this location-based exchange of text-messages, the Yellow Arrow becomes a symbol for the unique characteristics, personal histories, and hidden secrets that live within our everyday spaces. And it's not just places, it's people: Yellow Arrow TXTshirts™ are individually coded just like the stickers. Yellow Arrow text-messaging is currently compatible with all phones and service providers in the US as well as internationally with those networks under the GSM standard. The website, YellowArrow.net, allows participants to annotate their arrows with photos and maps and is the online gallery of Yellow Arrows placed throughout the world -- visit to order arrow stickers and tshirts and see announcements about new events and features.